Shelf for electrical apparatus



Feb. 8 1949. I 7 L. T. HOLDEN 2,461,157

SHELF FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS Filed March 26, 1946' INVENTOR LAWRENCET. HOLDEN AT TORNEYQ Patented Feb. 8, 1949 Lawrence T. Holden, Boston,Mass., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to the United States of. America as represented bythe Secretary of War Application March 26, 1946, Serial No. 657,362

1 This invention relates to electrical apparatus and particularlytochassis for electronic apparatus.

It has become general practice to build electronic apparatus in the formof sub-assembly units upon cards which are assembled as shelves in arack or cabinet and electrically interconnected. It is in many instancesdesirable that such electronic apparatus shall be compact, but attemptsto obtain compactness merely by utilization of smaller electroniccomponents in such a card chassis have not been entirely satisfactory.It is an object of this invention to provide a card chassis having aminimum of voids but adequate space for air to circulate.

A further object is to provide a card chassis in which electricalconnections are easily circuited between sub-assembly units.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art and will be apparent from thefollowing description of the invention taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of chassis cards and supporting endstructure;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an elbow member utilized in the cardchassis structure; and

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a joined pair of elbow-members formingan end support,

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, the chassis is made up ofcards lo, M, I2 and I3 supported in such positions that the planes inwhich l6 and I2 lie are perpendicular to the planes containing l! andii. The cards are spaced apart at their inner edges to form a centralduct for ventilation and wiring purposes. This arrangement provides fourrectangular compartments in the chassis.

The end structures for holding the cards in place are made up of elbowmembers l4, illustrated in greater detail in Fig. 2. Each elbow memberI4 is formed from a U-channeled length of light weight metal, such asaluminum, and has a small rectangular flange l5 at each end. The flangesI5 afford means for securing the elbow members It to end walls orsupports 16 of the chassis structure, as seen in Fig. 1. The'elbowmembers provide mechanical support for the cards, and are shaped tosupport the cards in spaced relation, The spacing is accomplished by thenature of the bends in the elbow members. Each elbow member takes theform of a central portion 20 from which extend two arms 2! making anglesof 45 degrees with the central portion. The two arms 2| thus extend atright angles to 6 Claims. (Cl. 211-.90

2 each other. The central portion Eli furnishes an abutting surfaceso'that two elbow members may be fastened back to back to form four arms2i, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A pair of elbow members may be joined byrivetmeans'ii. To prevent distortion of the elbow members in theregionof rivet"l'l',metal inserts I f suitable thicknets are provided in thechannels as shown in Fig. 3.

The chassis cards It, ll, l2 and I3 may be of any suitable width andlength. They may be removably secured in the channeled elbow memhere byscrewsl9 as shown, and interconnecting wiring between the sub-assembliesof the several chassis cards may, if desired, be made through the centerduct.

It will be seen that the invention herein set forth provides a simplechassis whose shape is such as to offer a maximum mounting space andminimum void area, together with a central duct for Ventilation andinterconnecting wiring purposes.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be thepreferred embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the scope of the invention as set forthin the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A chassis for electrical assemblies, including two end supports andfour chassis cards mounted therebetween, each said end supportcomprising a joined pair of elbow members having four channeled arms,each arm extending at right angles to its adjacent arm, and receivingsaid chassis cards.

2. A chassis for electrical assemblies, including two end supports andfour chassis cards mounted therebetween, each said end support havingfour channeled arms, each arm extending at right angles to its adjacentarms and'receiving said chassiscards.

3. An elbow member for supporting chassis cards relative to a wall,including a length of material which is U-shaped in transverse crosssection and which has two substantially 45 bends along its length so asto form a central portion between said bends and two arms beyond saidbends respectively, said arms being substantially normal to each other,means to secure said meme her to said wall and means to secure twochassis cards to said arms respectively so as to support said [cardssubstantially at right angles to each other and to said wall, and meansto secure said central portion to the central portion of a secondsimilar elbow member.

4. An elbow member to sustain chassis cards, comprising an elongatedcentral portion and two elongated arms extending respectively fromopposite ends of said central portion, substantially at right angles toeach other and substantially at 45 angles to said central portion, saidcentral portion and said arms being a continuous unitary member ofchanneled material, means to secure two chassis cards to said armsrespectively, so as to sustain said cards substantially at right anglesto each other and with their adjacent edges spaced from each other.

5, An end structure for holding chassis cards relative to a wall,including four arms, each of which incorporates means to sustain achassis card, said arms :being so positioned that two of said chassiscards are sustained substantially in planes parallel to each other andthe other two of said cards are sustained in planes substantiallyparallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to the planes ofthe first two, the adjacent edges of the four cards being spaced fromeach other and means to secure said structure to said wall.

6. An end structure for sustaining four chassis cards relative to awall, comprising a central portion and four arms secured to said centralportion, the axes of said arms being substantially in a single plane andthe axes of two of said arms being substantially parallel to each otherand the axes of the other two of said arms being substantially parallelto each other and substantially perpendicular to the axes of the firsttwo arms, means on said four arms respectively to sustain four chassiscards substantially normal to the plane which includes said four axesand the adjacent edges of said cards are spaced from each other.

LAWRENCE T. HOLDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,599,252 Simpson Sept. 7, 19261,737,824 Brower Dec. 3, 1929 1,794,025 Magee Feb. 24, 1931 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 559,877 Great Britain Mar. 8, 1944 587,757Germany Aug. 29, 1928

